Toph's Story
by BxGeternity
Summary: See how it all began... from the small, unseeing child to the greatest earthbender the world has ever known.
1. Chapter 1

_**Ok, so this is the first chapter of a story Ive written on Tophs life, from early childhood until the moment she met the Gaang. Since Im an absolute naming genius, I gave this fic the most original of titles : **_**Tophs Story. _Now I know it sucks, but trust me, the story is kinda good... or at least, thats what I think (doesnt say much, considering Im the author...). If you like it, PLEASE REVIEW! If you dont... REVIEW ANYWAY! Just a few words so I know you have read. Its VERY important to me! _**

**_I plan this story to be roughly 6 chapters, depending on how inspired I am. The three first chapters are all about how Toph discovered she could earthbend when she was just four years old... hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writting it!_**

_Chapter 1: The Unseeing Child_

It was a very bright, sunny day in the Earth Kingdom. The bright blue sky stretched endlessly over the city of Gaoling, its soothing azure sometimes masked by a few pure white clouds. At the very limit of the horizon, a chain of impressive mountains hovered, their abrupt cliffs and sharp tips seeming a dark shade of purple in the distance. Vivid pink and orange flowers grew along the tall walls that encircled the Bei Fong property, the vast garden behind the familial mansion shaded by the couple of oaks whose branches swayed gently in the spring breeze. It was a beautiful afternoon, one of those were colors erupted everywhere you looked, and the whole place seemed to glow in the light of the sun.

But the little girl couldn't see any of it.

Sitting beneath one of the oaks, her tiny figure hunched over the ground to be as inconspicuous as possible, she could hear the rustling of the leaves as the wind brushed the thick canopy above her head. She could smell the sweet perfume of the flowers nearby, and feel the soft grass under her feet and hands. The sweet aroma of the spring air clung to the tip of her tongue as she breathed in deeply, and she could tell by the warmth on her face that the sun was high up in the sky.

But all she could see was crushing darkness.

Ever since that fever that had almost killed her three months ago, she had been surrounded by this obscurity: she had tried to open her eyes wider, struggling to see the daylight, but the blackness still remained. She had cried a lot, screaming that she wanted to escape the shadows, and her mother had held her tight, trying to reassure her, telling her it was okay, promising that she would soon see again... but despite all the cures, all the doctors and all the treatments her parents had provided her with, the small four year old remained blind.

To her parents, it was a catastrophe: their little daughter, only inheritor of the Bei Fong family, one the greatest noble families of the earth Kingdom, their tiny child, who had always been so fragile, so sensible since the day she was born, was blind.

To her, it was just... terrifying.

But what was even more frightening was the way everyone acted around her: she was used to being treated as a small child, surrounded by servants and guards day and night, but this was different. She could feel the pain and fear in her parents eyes whenever they looked at hear, feel the horrified and shocked gaze of the people she met, the pity of the doctors who treated her... it was as if they believed she was doomed, that her life was over. It scarred her to death. It hurt her too: nobody treated her as if she were a person anymore; she was merely the blind freak child, or the fragile, defenceless creature her parents had to protect. They didn't play with her anymore; her father didn't pick her up in his arms like he used to, her mother didn't read her any bedtime stories or talked to her in that comforting warm voice of hers...she just cried.

She wanted them to treat her like their daughter again: she wanted their love back. They were always fussing over her, her mother dressing her in fancy dresses she could no longer see with stiff hands, as she would with a doll. Her father held her hand tightly to guide her when she walked, but there was none of the affection and softness she yearned for in the gesture, just fear. When she cried, they wouldn't comfort her as they did before: they would send in a doctor to make sure she wasn't hurt. And then they were confused because she had nothing, not understanding that the hurt was _inside_.

She tried to persuade them that she was fine, that she was still the same little girl she had always been, _their_ little girl : but then she would stumble into a wall, or be unable do something as simple as eating a boll of rice without dropping some all over her tunic. She hated feeling so helpless, _incapable. _She hated_ them_ treating her like she was incapable. And she was frightened and sorrowful because somehow, she knew that it would always be this way.

Those last three months had been the most miserable moment of her short existence, and she knew it was only going to get worst. She couldn't stand it anymore: if only her sight would return! That's why she had run away from the house and was now hiding under the oak. Her parents didn't let her out of the mansion anymore, and she could tell, in spite of the innocence of her young age, that they were not only doing so for her security: they were hiding her from view. She remembered that, shortly after the discovery of her blindness, visitors had come to their house unannounced: her father had hidden her in her room with a servant until they were gone. Afterwards, nobody had ever come to visit. She knew it was because of her, and it filled her with shame.

She knew that by now her mother would be looking for her, and began to crawl towards were she thought the walls of the property might be. She had to get out of here fast, before they found her and locked her up in her room. Escaping the supervision of her guards and getting out of the house had been difficult, even more so since she didn't know were she was going. She had tripped countless times on her way out, and it was only out of pure luck that she hadn't stumbled into anybody. But finding the gates that led out of the family's terrain would be that much harder: and how would she get through without someone to open them for her? She hadn't given any thought as to where she would go and what she would do once she was out, but for now it didn't matter: she just wanted to be free.

Suddenly, she bumped into a hard surface, and a small smile spread across her face as she realized she had found the walls. She crawled along them, hoping they would lead her to the gates. But then, as she felt her way with her hands, she noticed a hole at the base of the wall's foundations. Its sides were ragged and irregular, and it was just big enough for a tiny child to crawl through. She had no idea what was on the other side, but she was brave for her age and determined to escape: she crawled through the hole and was out in the outside world.

For the first time in her life, she was free.


	2. Chapter Two : Escape to the Earth

_**Hello dear readers! Can't believe this story already has two reviews! Thank you so much guys, I really appreciate it! I'm sorry for the length of the paragraphs... I'll try fixing this next time. **_

**_Feel free to comment and point out any mistakes. Whether you like this story or not, I'd love to hear from you... just to know that some people read me._**

**_And yes, I know, I forgot the disclaimer in the previous chapter, but I'm making up for it now. Hope nobody will sue me..._**

**_Disclaimer : I don't own Avatar-The Last Airbender. If I did, there would be a lot more Tokka moments. _**

_Chapter Two: Escape to the Earth_

The little girl didn't know it, but the hole in the wall had lead her to the eastern side of her parent's property, were a small clearing of grass gave way to dark woods. The Bei Fong family lived in the outskirts of Goaling, right next to the forest that surrounded the city, at the foot of the mountains. Carefully, the young child rose to her feet and gingerly started to walk forward, holding her petite hands in front of her in case she met any obstacles. She walked until she reached the edge of the woods, and was very surprised when her hands touched bark and she almost ran into a tree. With a lot of precautions and unfaltering determination, she made her way into the bushes, feeling her surroundings with her hands and slowly progressing from tree to tree. She had no idea where she was heading, only that she was straying farther and farther from the house, and that filled her with joy.

The forest was full of life: buzzing with insects and noisy with the singing of the birds and the chattering of the squirrels and small animals that roamed the forest floor. It smelled strongly of humus and bark and leaves... she liked it. Her white silk dress kept getting caught in branches and twigs, and it ripped in many places, but she couldn't have cared: she hated dresses, now that she had no reason to like them since she couldn't admire herself in a mirror anymore. Her uncomfortable shoes soon were covered in dirt, and she took them off and abandoned them behind her. The uneven earth and the small rocks and branches that littered the forest floor sometime hurt the soles of her delicate feet, but for some reason she liked the sensation of being barefoot: with the tip of her toes, she could feel the tree roots that stuck out of the ground more easily, reducing her chances of tripping on one of them.

Step by step, the small girl crossed the forest. She walked for hours, never stopping, for fear that her parents would catch up with her. She felt a little a worried, she fell from time to time and, even though at 4 years old she only had a very relative sense of danger, she knew that she wasn't in a very safe place. However, she wasn't afraid: whatever might happen to her here was much less frightening than what had been going on at home. And for once in her life, she was alone. Truly and utterly alone, taking care of her own self in unknown, possibly dangerous territory, as if she were _capable_. And she _was_ capable, although she didn't realize to what point. Facts were, four year old girls-blind or not- couldn't walk in the forest for hours on end without becoming frightened or tiring out. Yet there she was, accomplishing by shear will power this extraordinary exploit, the first of a very long list of future triumphs.

She had no idea, but she was walking toward the mountains: she could feel the ground beneath her feet becoming rockier and the terrain steeper. There were fewer trees to guide her here, so she slowed and advanced more carefully.

It didn't prevent her from falling, though.

She didn't feel the edge of the hole before it was too late: the earth beneath her feet collapsed and she was sent falling into the darkness. She screamed as she slid down what felt like a giant toboggan of earth. After what seemed to her like an eternity, the 'ride' ceased as brutally as it had begun. Feeling dizzy, she tried to get up, but fell back on her behind immediately, her heart pounding hard in her chest. She was covered from head to toe in a thick layer of dirt, her dusty black hair hanging loosely in front of her unseeing eyes. It was dark here, darker than usual; she couldn't feel the warmth of the sun's light on her skin. It was also very dark and it smelled strongly of ... earth. She wasn't too sure how big the place she had ended up in was, but she somehow knew it was closed in and underground. As she crawled around, exploring her surroundings with her hands, she felt high, steep stone walls on both sides of her. She stood on the tip of her toes and reached over her head with her arms, trying to find the ceiling, or whatever was blocking the sunlight, but she couldn't: it must be very high, then. She returned to the opening she had shot in through, trying to crawl back up to the surface, but the tunnel was much to steep and slippery for that. Resigned, she turned around and begun to advance forward, hoping to come across an exit.

She stumbled hopelessly through the darkness, and found out there was nothing in front of her, no matter how far she walked. In truth, she was walking in a very long underground gallery that went inside the mountain, a gallery that was made entirely of earth and stone and was over a century old. It had been dug by powerful creatures that lived at the heart of the mountains, and she was in one of their main passages. But it wasn't a hazard she had ended up here; and the tunnel that she had fallen trough was everything but natural...

And then, as she bravely continued her trek in the hostile gallery, the ground began to tremble.

For the first time since the beginning of her journey, she was truly afraid: a fearsome roar resonated in the distance, amplified by the echo of the gallery, and she cried in fear. Knocked to the ground by the earthquake, she dug her nails in the hard soil and hung on. The tremors became stronger and stronger, and she heard a very loud rumbling sound, similar to that produced by a rock slide. And it was getting closer! Not too far from her, one of the walls suddenly exploded and she was showered in dust as boulders and rocks she couldn't see flew in her direction: but none of them hit her, seeming to be deviated by an invisible force. And then, as the earth suddenly became still and silent and the trembling ceased, she felt a presence near her.

She wasn't alone anymore.

Something, or rather _someone, _was hovering over her, and without even seeing it, she knew it was _huge. _She could hear a strong, steady breathing above her head, feel its heat that came to her in waves as well as its strong, musky scent. And she could also feel that 'it' was staring at her.

A low grumble escaped the beast's throat as it welcomed its new student.


	3. Chapter Three : A New Sight

_**Ok, so here is chapter three. I'm not very satisfied with the end, but I guess it'll have to do. I plan on adding at least three more chapters to this fic, so it isn't over yet.**_

**_As always, I'm begging you to review. I need to know what you think! Thanks for reading._**

**_Before I forget, here's the disclaimer._**

**_Disclaimer : I don't own Avatar-The Last Airbender. If I did, it certainly wouldn't be as good. _**

_Chapter Three : A New Sight_

The beast grumbled, and the little girl backed up, startled.

It was big, _so big. _And it growled a lot, but not in a menacing way. What was it? A big monster, like in her mother's bedtime stories? But weren't monsters supposed to be mean and well...terrifying? She didn't feel terrified, just happy that the ground felt steady again and very curious. And it seemed that the beast didn't want to eat her like in the stories either: it rather seemed to want to tell her something, because it growled again, softly (she was too young to consider that technically, beasts don't talk). She decided to address him, since it wanted to start a conversation: maybe it knew were the exit was?

- "Hello, big beast," she began in her small, ringing voice. "My name is Toph. Who are you?"

Little did she know that she was holding a conversation with a badgermole, a gigantic animal who was the source of earthbending, a very ancient art that allowed its possessor to control the element Earth. And little did she know that, if she was here, it was because the creature had summoned her.

In response to her presentation, the badgermole bent its wide head and gently placed its muzzle on the top of Toph's head. When she felt the large, humid nose on her, she opened her sightless eyes in an expression of surprise, and then the animal sniffed her and she laughed, her voice echoing in the gallery like a ringing bell. At that moment she knew that she had just made herself a friend for life.

- "I'm happy to meet you too," she giggled, grabbing the muzzle with both hands and gripping the thick fur around it. "But I still don't know what you are... do you live here? Isn't it a little dark? Not that it makes any difference to me: I'm blind... Everyone's frightened of me because of that but... you're not scarred, are you?" The animal grunted and she laughed, relieved. "Anyway, that's why I left home... I fell into these tunnels, and I can't find my way out... do you know where the exit is? I don't mind the dark and the dirt, but its cold down here..."

Suddenly the creature pulled back, just gently enough not to harm the fragile little girl, and she felt the ground trembling with each one of his retreating paw steps.

- "Hey! Don't go!" She called after him. "Wait for me!"

Toph crawled after the beast as fast as she could, following the sound of his paw steps: it was easier to crawl then to walk, she realized, because she didn't need to worry about keeping her balance. Also, it was so much easier to avoid the obstacles before her when she could feel them on the ground with her hands. The badgermole walked slowly, wanting her to keep up. She was tiny, but he knew she held great power. Already, she was showing a capacity to listen to the earth she was crawling on, although for now she only felt it with her hands. He would show her to feel the element in another way as well...

Toph was relieved when the creature finally stopped: her small limbs were getting tired from all the crawling and her palms and knees were badly scraped, but she was determined not to lose her knew friend. She gratefully crawled between his enormous legs and passed him, reaching out before her with her hands and touching a wall. She felt disappointed: she had hoped that maybe he was leading her to an exit, although she didn't want to leave him so soon (she had never had any friends, and it was very precious to her). She turned to her knew 'best-friend' with a sad expression:

- "There is a wall. We can't go that way! Don't you know any other way out?"

The badgermole grunted once more, and than he wrapped a large clawed paw around her, pushing her gently out of the way. Then, he did something that changed the little Toph's life for ever: with one massive shove of his paws, he destroyed the wall that was blocking the passage and earthbended a huge tunnel for them to go through.

And she saw it all.

Not with her eyes, as the darkness was still surrounding her, but with her feet and hands.

And she was amazed by the view.

Suddenly, her surroundings became crystal clear: the badgermole's earthbending had sent vibrations in the ground and the walls, and she could sense them with her body, more specifically her feet and hands which were pressed against the earth, sending a perfect and vast image to her brain. She saw how wide the gallery was, how high its ceiling was perched, and the passageway that her new friend had created. She felt a large boulder fall near her, and she could tell exactly how big it was, describe every contour of it. She also saw the badgermole: his silhouette was even bigger than she had thought; she could distinguish its broad shoulder, long muzzle, sharp claws that dug so smoothly in the earth. The flawlessness and power of his movements bewildered and fascinated her at the same time. How she would love to be so powerful, so strong instead of small and weak! Then, maybe her parents would love her again and trust her.

And all of a sudden it was over: the vibrations faded and she was blind again. Tears of frustration welled in her eyes: she didn't want to be blind, she wanted to _see! _Walk around and know where she was going, know where things were, what they looked like...she wanted to dig tunnels and be free to go wherever she wanted.

_- "I saw everything!"_ She cried at the animal. "How did you do that? Can you do it again?" She begged.

Once again, he only grunted, but it stopped her crying instantly. He tapped on the ground with one of his claws and suddenly everything was clear again. When he stopped, the vibrations began to fade, and she clung to them desperately. **_That's_** when she noticed that the vibrations never completely ceased...in fact, if she listened hard enough and pressed her palms and heels to the ground, she could still sense them... and see. Even more incredible, they seemed to come from every direction... like they came from the earth itself, like the rocks and the soil were talking to her, urging her to listen. At first, she could only distinguish her immediate surroundings, but then she slowly extended her vision and could see the gallery and the newly dug tunnel go on far, far away, deeper and deeper into...the mountain. A mountain of rock, she could feel it! Feel it till its tip, till it touched the sky! And then she could see the other mountains, and the forest with its soft soil and tree roots... she could feel the pattering of small creatures a they scampered across the ground, and very near here, she could sense a steady beat... the thumping of her friend's heart.

She could see the world once again. She wasn't blind anymore.


End file.
